The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results – 12/13/13

The House Passed the Ryan-Murray Budget, 332-94

The Budget Deal’s Sneaky Tax Increases

Boehner Attacks Conservative Groups

Boehner Declares War on the American People

It’s war! Senate gears up for epic battle as ZERO Republicans line up to support budget agreement (and Democrats need to find at least five) 

Breitbart Exclusive -- Palin: Read My Lipstick: No New Taxes

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” – Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” – Adolf Hitler on media

“What difference does it make?” – Hillary Rodham Clinton, Benghazi hearings

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s The Mixed Legacy Of Nelson Mandela, is my obituary for South African leader Nelson Mandela, whose death literally sparked an orgy of amnesia as both media and politicians rushed to worship at his altar. However, as I point out, his legacy was extremely mixed and comparisons to men like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, were ludicrous. Here’s a slice:

Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has passed away at the age of 95, from complications resulting from a lung infection.

Since he was essentially a secular saint, the hagiographies, the emotional tributes and the kicky sound bites will be in abundance. His place in history is assured, because like other secular saints, burning incense and making offerings at his altar is seen to confer virtue on the worshiper, especially if they’re white.

Nelson Mandela was an important figure in contemporary history, no doubt. But who was Nelson Mandela really? What did he accomplish? What is his legacy?

That’s a more complicated and nuanced story that you’re unlikely to hear about much in the medias frenzy over the next week or so. Because it doesn’t quite fit the script for a secular saint. And the complexity can be imagined when you learn that Mandela was the proud recipient of both the U.S. Medal of Freedom awarded to him by President Obama and the Order of Lenin, given to him by the Soviet Union, hardly a bastion of freedom or even simple human decency.

Certainly, he looked and sounded like a secular saint. A member of a family of Xhosa royalty, his tall, dignified bearing and his measured speech could almost have been cooked up by a Hollywood casting agent.

Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, a small village in the eastern part of South Africa’s cape province. Coming from a prominent family , he received excellent schooling in South Africa’s best schools so he could work as a councilor for the the Xhosa’s Thembu royal house. He later attended University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern Cape. There he first got his political indoctrination in anti-colonialism and his introduction to Marxism. Traveling to Johannesburg in 1941, he first ran into the African National Congress in the person of Walter Sisulu, then a member of the fledgling African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). In Johannesburg, Mandela was taken under the wing of Lazar Sidelsky, a Left wing Jewish lawyer sympathetic to the ANC and a partner in the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, who gave Nelson Mandela a job as a law clerk.

In those days,the ANC was essentially a non-violent social justice movement that lobbied for black rights and engaged in local politics. However, like many similar organizations in the West, it had been targeted by the Soviet Comintern and was already infiltrated by members of the CPSA as well as by actual Soviet agents.

While the evidence is mixed over whether Nelson Mandela ever joined the communist party, he frequently attended their meetings, and many of his closest associates, like Lionel ‘Rusty’ Bernstein, Joe Slovo, the long-time leader of the CPSA, his wife Ruth First, Gaur Redebe, Walter Sisulu and Nat Bregman definitely were, and some of them might have been actual Soviet agents. All of them were under ‘party discipline just as American communists were, which meant that their marching orders came directly from the Comintern and the Kremlin, no deviations allowed. Many members of CPSA became part of the ANC and the CPSA is still a part of the ANC’s political coalition today. Mandela’s openly expressed admiration and later friendship for communist dictators, his views on nationalization of South Africa’s major industries and government redistribution of wealth and his subsequently receiving the Order of Lenin from the Soviets shows that at best, he was a communist sympathizer.

After South Africa’s 1948 general election, the Afrikaner-led Herenigde Nasionale Party took power, uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. They implemented the system of racial segregation known as apartheid. Mandela and his supporters were able to depose the existing ANC President Alfred Bitini Xuma at that time, who favored non-violence in seeking black civil rights and was an open anti-Communist. As Mandela wrote later in his memoirs, “We had now guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path.”

In 1955, Mandela finally went fully over to the idea of using terrorism as as a political tool, or as he put it, the ANC “had no alternative to armed and violent resistance. ” In this, he was greatly influenced by his open admiration of the tactics of Mao Tse Tung and Fidel Castro.

In fact, the first ‘revolutionary’ act of Mandela’s was to send communist party apparatchnik and ANC member Walter Sisulu to the People’s Republic of China to obtain weapons. The PRC turned Mandela down, officially because they felt the ANC was not prepared for Mao-style guerilla warfare, but perhaps more likely because they were already deeply involved in arming and training the Viet Minh in their attempt to overthrow the Diem government in South Vietnam and similar operations with groups like the Pathet Lao elsewhere in South East Asia. They also likely underestimated Mandela and the ANC’s ability to win a war where resupply would be so difficult and no communist-controlled havens were nearby.

However, Mandela and the ANC began to collect whatever weapons and explosives they could get hold of and prepare for armed struggle on their own,while continuing to work on political agitation against the apartheid regime.

It was at this time that Mandela, inspired by Castro’s guerilla groups like 26th of July Movement and the Viet Minh founded his own terrorist elite, Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”, abbreviated as MK) with communists Walter Sisulu and Joe Slovo. The MK made their debut with 57 bombings on Dingane’s Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year’s Eve.MK killed civilians and military alike, and two of their more famous operations were the Church Street bombing and the Magoo’s Bar bombing, both of which targeted civilians and were designed for maximum carnage..

The MK and an ANC group run by Mandela’s wife Winnie called the “Mandela United Football Club” were also responsible for the murder, torture and kidnapping of both whites and black political opponents and their families who opposed ‘armed struggle’. Much of this came out through Mandela’s own Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC. The 1998 findings of that investigation were suppressed by President Mandela.

Winnie Mandela is credited with introducing the practice of using necklacing (see video), forcing a gas or oil soaked tire over the head and shoulders to pin the arms of the victim and then lighting it on fire.Her quote? “With our matches and our necklaces we will liberate this country.” She has never served a day in jail, and still sits on the ANC executive committee.

Bob Simon says Mandela was a "normal human being?" Since I, too, want to be normal, will have to brush up on "Necklacing."

It’s worth recalling that the ANC was officially named a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department and many other western nations. That designation wasn’t rescinded officially by the State Department until 1990.

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was The Babalu blog with Gone is Fidel’s greatest admirer, submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s a Cuban blogger’s view of Nelson Mandela and his love affair with Fidel Castor that is must reading.

Okay, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 2/3 votes! – Joshuapundit – The Mixed Legacy Of Nelson Mandela
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Bookworm Room – Pope Francis’s Marxist economic analysis reflects the Left’’s long march through the Catholic Church
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Liberty’s Spirit – Apparently Antisemitism Doesn’t Exist in Europe Anymore
• Third place with 1 2/3 vote – Nice Deb – Legal Expert At Today’s Judiciary Hearing: ‘The Check on Executive lawlessness is Impeachment’ (Video)
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Right Planet – Is the President a Malignant Narcissist?
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – About One of My Articles and Allen West
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – What Should We Remember About December 7th?
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Yousef Munayyer, Open Zion and Nelson Mandela
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Calibrating the Extremist Meter
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – A waste of time and money
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Razor – RIP Nelson Mandela

Non-Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! – Babalu Blog – Gone is Fidel’s greatest admirer. submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Victor Davis Hanson/NRO – The World’s New Outlaws submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Andrew McCarthy/NRO – Impeachment Lessons submitted by Nice Deb
• Third place with 2 votes – Mises Institute – The State Causes the Poverty It Later Claims to Solve submitted by The Political Commentator
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – Alan Johnson – The slaughter and torture of Christians: not a priority for the Government, Labour or DfID submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Ace of Spades – Almost Three Quarters of All US Military Deaths in Afghanistan Have Occurred During The Presidency of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Barack Obama submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Obama Has Taken To Robbing Banks submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place with 2/3 vote – Brad DeLong/The Equitablog – Is Growth Getting Harder? If so, Why, and What Can We Do About It?: The Honest Broker for the Week of December 1, 2013 submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Killer of British soldier Lee Rigby: “I am a soldier and this is war” submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Other McCain – Were Vassar Students Who Perpetrated Hate Hoax Linked to Another Injustice? submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Daily Beast – Husain Haqqani – Pakistan’s Change of Guard and General Ashfaq Kayani’’s Legacy submitted by The Razor
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Seymour M. Hersh – Who’s Sarin? submitted by The Right Planet
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Bill Whittle – I can’t Believe They Let You Do That! submitted by The Watcher

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – RNC Chairman Says Hillary 2016 Candidacy is Set… And Female Presidency Will be the Carrot
• The Pirate’s Cove – Know What’s Perfect For Christmas? Carbon Offsets

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in… don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!

The ObamaCare Document Stack Photo: Obamacare’s Regulations in One Giant Stack - 20,000 Pages Already

Any Question as to why we need to support the Paul Ryan Plan and Repeal or Defund ObamaCare?

Senator Mitch McConnell tweeted: #ObamaCare regulations - 828 pages in one day. Overall, there are nearly 20,000 pages – with many more to come… along with the photo of the document stack.

Yes, ObamaCare regulators added more than 800 -pages to an ever-growing document that will govern your healthcare. The bureaucrats’ work product now prints out to 20,000 pages — nearly eight times the length of the infamous original bill:

HotAir: That tower is already taller than Kobe Bryant, and much of the law hasn’t even gone into effect yet. According to the Government Accountability Office, Obamacare is projected to add $6.2 trillion to the nation’s long-term deficits, despite presidential assurances that it wouldn’t add a “single dime” to our red ink:

“This legislation is fully paid for, and will not add one single dime to our deficit.”

We’re also seeing more evidence that the healthcare law is killing jobs, as predicted by the Congressional Budget Office and Obamacare opponents alike:

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released an edition of its so-called “beige book,” that said the 2010 healthcare law is being cited as a reason for layoffs and a slowdown in hiring. ”Employers in several Districts cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff,” said the March 6 beige book, which examines economic conditions across various Federal Reserve districts across the country.

A former Obama adviser is now admitting that the law was never intended to be “a jobs program.” Funny, that’s not what Democrats told us while they were jamming it down our throats. I’ll leave you with Nancy Pelosi explaining how Obamacare is really all about creating millions of jobs and, er, reducing the deficit:

Video: Pelosi – “The Biggest Growth in Jobs” This Year…

Time for some common sense!!

Video: Paul Ryan: Our budget repeals Obamacare and the Medicaid ‘expansion’

Tax Prof: ObamaCare Tax Increases Are Double Original Estimate:

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a 96 page report on the tax provisions associated with Affordable Care Act. The report describes the 21 tax increases included in ObamaCare, totaling $1.058 trillion – a steep increase from initial assessment, according to the Tax Prof Blog. The summer 2012 estimate is nearly twice the $569 billion estimate produced at the time of the passage of the law in March 2010.

Related:

Will ObamaCare Affect Your Pet’s Vet Bills?

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,ObamaCare regulations,wake-up America,defund ObamaCare,repeal and replace ObamaCare,Paul Ryan,stop spending,balance the budget

Erskine Bowles says: Ryan Budget is "Sensible...Honest, Serious"

Who is Erskine Bowles you ask? Erskine Bowles is the Democratic co-chair of President Barack Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with Alan K. Simpson

Video: Erskine Bowles: Ryan budget is "sensible...honest, serious" (1:14 mins total)

Wait till you hear what he says about Obama's budget - and what that "cut $4 trillion over 12 years" really was.  And, what he said about Paul Ryan is fabulous!! :-)

Daily Caller – Photo: AP

Erskine Bowles is not backing away from his previous praise of Rep. Paul Ryan now that the Wisconsin congressman is on the Republican presidential ticket.

“I like him,” Bowles, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and co-chairperson of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, told The Daily Caller in a phone interview.

“I think he’s smart. I think he’s intellectually curious. I think he is honest, straightforward and sincere. And I think he does have a serious budget out there — it doesn’t mean I agree with it by any stretch of the imagination. But I’m not going to act like I don’t like him or that I don’t have some real respect for him.”

Bowles, who along with former Republican Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson chaired a presidential commission that ultimately released a budget proposal to fix America’s long-term budget crisis, says that though he has disagreements with some aspects of Ryan’s budget, he believes they can be overcome.

“You know, there’s a reason he didn’t vote for our budget, and there’s a reason that, I know, that I have some disagreements with his budget,” Bowles said.

“But it doesn’t mean we couldn’t find a way to, you know, have principled compromise that would, you know, that would address this horrendous problem that we face with these deficits.”

A bipartisan group of four senators recently wrote a letter to the presidential debate commission requesting that it ask the presidential contenders about where they stand on the Simpson-Bowles debt plan. In response on Tuesday, three Democratic House members wrote to the commission asking it not to specifically ask the presidential candidates where they stand on the Simpson-Bowles plan. In a follow-up email responding to the Democrats’ letter, Bowles said, “There are lots of Democrats and Republicans that wish this whole debt/deficit talk would just go away.”

Comments:

One Term:

"Bowles says he plans on voting for President Obama in November."
…bowles and his entire massive effort to rein in the US debt were thrown under the bus by OBOZO – and yet he’ll still vote for him. NOBODY can ever say that committed d-cRAT socialists are SANE, RATIONAL or RESPONSIBLE – or act in the best interest of the country. NOBODY.

MGA:

What is wrong with these lefties? Last night on ‘On the Record’ with Greta, she interviewed Paul Ryan’s former government teacher, Sam Loizzo, who rambled on about what a great guy and great friend Paul Ryan is/has been and how Ryan was a great student, smart, hard-working and is a person of character who wins consistently in a mixed district where Gore and Obama won at the same time he won his Congressional seat race each time. He also talked about how Paul Ryan honored him on the House Floor for being a great influence on his life and how great Ryan always is wonderful with the students at home in Janesville and those that retired teacher Sam Loizzo has brought to DC on field trips over the years. He says he loves Ryan who is a great family man and a man of principle. So Greta jumped in and asked the union Democrat teacher if he will vote for Ryan as VP. And he said no, because Ryan believes in education being a local responsibility. God only knows… friendship, honesty, principle etc. can’t trump federal government money for these big government lefties. SAD!

I’m going to be writing Sam Loizzo in Janesville, WI and telling him: Shame on You!

Romney-Ryan: America’s New Dream Team and a Clear Choice

Video: Ryan eviscerates Obama on Obamacare in 6 minutes

Technorati Tags: Erskine Bowles,Ryan Budget,Romney Ryan,Election 2012,2012 Election,economics,saving America,Bowles-Simpson,Alan K. Simpson,America's Come Back Team,National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform,ObamaCare

Stumped: Axelrod Can’t Explain Why Senate Dems Won’t Pass A Budget

Video: Stumped: Axelrod Can't Explain Why Senate Dems Won't Pass A Budget

Maybe he should have talked to Jeff Sessions before the interview?

Video:  Dem Leaders Run From Budget Deadline As Health Law Threatens Nation's Finances

WASHINGTON, March 18--Appearing on FOX News' "America's News HQ" today, Sen. Sessions discussed the nearing legal deadline for Senate Democrats to produce a budget (the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires the Senate Budget Committee to complete action on a resolution by April 1, and requires passage by the full Senate by April 15). Despite this unambiguous statutory requirement, the Budget Committee has taken no action to even begin work on a budget. In fact, it has now been 1,054 days--nearly three years--since Senate Democrats have produced a budget at all.

This stands in sharp contrast to the record of House Republicans, which passed a budget last year and which is set to introduce this year's budget next week.

Rather than confront the nation's debt threat, Senate Democrats have resorted to political tactics on unrelated matters, as well as attacks on the House Republican budget even in the absence of a plan of their own.

Sessions also addressed new cost projections for the president's health law, which the Congressional Budget Office last week found will cost nearly twice what the president originally promised, or nearly three times the promised amount once the law is fully implemented.

Obama Keeps 'Czars' Despite Budget Deal That Eliminated Them - So How About A Waste Czar??

Obama Keeps 'Czars' Despite Budget Deal That Eliminated Them

Published April 16, 2011

President Barack Obama is interviewed by The Associated Press, Friday, April 15, 2011, in Chicago.(AP)

President Obama may have never met a "czar" he didn't like and he's not about to bid farewell to any of them now, despite a budget deal he struck with Republican leaders last week that eliminated four of these positions.

The budget compromise that Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reached in the final moments before the government shut down last Friday included language effectively eliminating the czar positions overseeing health care, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs – positions that don't require Senate confirmation.

But after signing the legislation Friday that funds the government through the end of September and cuts $38 billion in spending, Obama issued a signing statement saying he would ignore the part about his czars, arguing that defunding those positions violated his constitutional authority.

Republicans cried foul over Obama's move.

"It's not surprising that the White House, having bypassed Congress to empower these 'Czars' is objecting to eliminating them," Mike Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who introduced legislation earlier this year eliminating nine czar positions, said Obama cannot choose which laws to follow and ignore.

"The president knew that the czar amendment was part of the overall budget deal he agreed to, and if he cannot be trusted to keep his word on this, then how can he be trusted as we negotiate on larger issues like federal spending and the economy," he said in a statement, arguing that appointing these czars without Senate confirmation violated the Constitution.

"The United States is not a kingdom run by a political director, and President Obama needs to quickly reverse course and abide by the law eliminating the czars that were part of the budget resolution."

While presidents in both parties have appointed high-level officials to advise them on a wide range of policy areas, Obama's czars have been a favorite target for Republicans, who say Obama has appointed more than any of his predecessors in a power grab that undermines the Senate's advice and consent role.

Scalise's office estimates that 39 officials are in the Obama administration and in his bill he described czars as the "head of any task force, council, policy office within the executive office of the president" or similar office, appointed "without the advice and consent of the Senate."

Earlier this year, climate czar Carol Browner left the White House and health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle was promoted to White House deputy chief of staff. Other past czars in the Obama administration has drawn much criticism from Republicans, including former green jobs czar Van Jones and current science czar John Holdren.

This is a satirical look at the waste, fraud and abuse within our Federal government. The waste is so bad, it’s almost comical.

Please share this with your friends and family.

Video:  Maybe We Need A Waste Czar

Blaise Ingoglia, Producer

Government Gone Wild!

Obama: despite law, I can do what I want on czars

April 16, 2011

In marked contrast to vows as a candidate not to use presidential signing statements as “an end run around Congress,” President Obama released a statement on the just-signed spending bill saying despite the law’s restrictions on “czars,” he will “construe” the law not to interfere with “presidential prerogatives.”

The move is an aggressive power play by Obama to gain an added advantage from the deal struck a week ago between the president, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to narrowly avert government shutdown.

The legislation prohibits government money being spent on four Obama “czars,” newly created positions with far-reaching sway over federal agencies but facing no confirmation vote in the Senate.

A spokesman for Boehner, Michael Steel, said “It’s not surprising that the White House, having bypassed Congress to empower these ‘Czars’ is objecting to eliminating them.”

As a candidate for president in 2008, Obama blasted former President George W. Bush for his aggressive use of signing statements to alter how laws would be implemented after he signed them.

“Congress’s job is to pass legislation. The president can veto it, or he can sign it. But what George Bush has been trying to do as part of his effort to accumulate more power in the presidency, is he’s been saying ‘Well, I can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying, I don’t agree with this part, or I don’t agree with that part. I’m going to choose to interpret it this way or that way,’” Obama said.

“That’s not part of his power. But this is part of the whole theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he’s going along. I disagree with that. I taught the Constitution for ten years. I believe in the Constitution. And I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We’re not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end run around Congress,” Obama said.

Source: Patriot Update

h/t to George King and Deana Zohar

Obama’s Czar End-Run: ‘Signing Statements’ He Once Opposed

Wow… When you look back you realize that Obama never told the truth… as a candidate or as President…

Shadow Government: What Obama Doesn't Want You to Know About His Czars

Will Ignorance Lead to a Second Obama Term??

Election On: ‘Spinmaster’ Obama Spins Budget Speech into First Campaign Speech of the 2012 Season

The American people thought they were tuning into President Obama’s speech about the budget, the upcoming budge crisis, the debt ceiling battle and his solutions and a detailed plan, or at least an outline with some details.  Instead we heard a campaign speech filled with broad stroke rhetoric and short on detail.  At first I thought maybe I was being unfair, but when the Democratic strategist and commenter on the review panel with Shannon Breen, right after the speech started with, “Campaign On!!”, I realized that I was “on” as well.

The president took the time to try and regain control of his leadership deficit instead of focusing on on America’s budgetary deficit.  He tried to connect with  the “Middle Class” where he has lost support and with seniors, using scare tactics and double speak to address their fears.  Obama also attacked Paul Ryan’s plan without using Ryan’s name.

We are beginning to hear all the right words, that will be forgotten or changed, once the election is over, as we heard from Obama in 2007 – 2008 on the campaign trail.  The question is, “Will the American people fall of it again?”  Pollster Frank Luntz says based on his polls the answer is: “NO” but the country is definitely divided.

He Still Wants to Spread the Wealth Around ... Rich 'Can Afford to Give Back a Little Bit More'

President Obama's Remarks on His Debt Plan:

"For much of the last century, our nation found a way to afford these investments and priorities with the taxes paid by its citizens. As a country that values fairness, wealthier individuals have traditionally born a greater share of this burden than the middle class or those less fortunate. This is not because we begrudge those who've done well - we rightly celebrate their success. Rather, it is a basic reflection of our belief that those who have benefitted most from our way of life can afford to give a bit more back. Moreover, this belief has not hindered the success of those at the top of the income scale, who continue to do better and better with each passing year."

"Of course, there will be those who disagree with my approach. Some will argue we shouldn't even consider raising taxes, even if only on the wealthiest Americans. It's just an article of faith for them. I say that at a time when the tax burden on the wealthy is at its lowest level in half a century, the most fortunate among us can afford to pay a little more. I don't need another tax cut. Warren Buffett doesn't need another tax cut. Not if we have to pay for it by making seniors pay more for Medicare. Or by cutting kids from Head Start. Or by taking away college scholarships that I wouldn't be here without. That some of you wouldn't be here without. And I believe that most wealthy Americans would agree with me. They want to give back to the country that's done so much for them. Washington just hasn't asked them to. "

Obama Outlines New Deficit-Reduction Plan, Slams GOP Proposal

Published April 13, 2011 | FoxNews.com

Drawing a clear line between his budget priorities and a proposal pitched by Republicans, President Obama outlined a new spending plan Wednesday which he claimed would cut the deficit by $4 trillion within 12 years with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases on the wealthy.

Obama, in a speech at George Washington University which amounted to an opening argument in the emerging 2012 presidential campaign, positioned his latest spending plan as a more "compassionate" alternative to one introduced last week by GOP Rep. Paul Ryan. He applauded Republicans for putting a plan on the table to address entitlements, but the praise stopped there.

"The way this plan achieves those goals would lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we've known certainly in my lifetime," Obama said, calling their plan "deeply pessimistic." He suggested Republicans were giving up on basic functions of government.

"It's a vision that says if our roads crumble and our bridges collapse, we can't afford to fix them. If there are bright young Americans who have the drive and the will but not the money to go to college, we can't afford to send them," Obama said of the Republican plan. "It's a vision that says America can't afford to keep the promise we've made to care for our seniors."

The president's proposal would deal with entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid, but avoid the major changes being pushed by Ryan. The president opposes turning Medicaid into a block-grant program for states and making Medicare seniors purchase government-subsidized insurance, as Ryan proposed. Rather, he vowed to make other changes he claims will extract more than $300 billion in savings from those Medicare and Medicaid over the next decade. Plus he pushed cuts in discretionary spending, including to defense.

The president drew several lines in the sand, as the latest round of the budget debate gets underway. Accusing Republicans of cutting services to seniors and poor children while cutting taxes for the rich, Obama said: "That's not right, and that's not going to happen as long as I'm president."

The White House, instead, has called for a "balance" between cuts and changes to the tax code. Though the administration refers to this as "tax reform," the plan includes a call for rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy -- meaning a tax hike for households making more than $250,000.

Republicans and Democrats had agreed to extend all the Bush tax cuts for two years, but Obama said Wednesday, "I refuse to renew them again" for the wealthy.

"The most fortunate among us can afford to pay a little more. I don't need another tax cut," he said.

Republicans, though, have roundly opposed a tax hike for anyone.

"I hope we don't have a re-do and a do-over of the tax agreement," House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said. "This was an issue that was litigated in the election last fall."

Having met with the president Wednesday morning before the speech, House Speaker John Boehner said that he made clear to the president that if the government is going to do something credible and meaningful, "raising taxes will not be part of that."

"The one area that we know we're not going to get very far on is that we're going to raise taxes on the very people we're counting on to ... create jobs," he said.

Obama's plan also called for a "failsafe" trigger, which would apply across-the-board spending cuts if the national debt, as a percentage of GDP, is not on the decline by 2014.

The speech effectively served as a counterproposal to the 2012 budget plan offered by Ryan. The chairman of the House Budget Committee has proposed a plan he claims will cut deficits by $4.4 trillion over the next decade, in large part by overhauling Medicare and Medicaid. He offsets the savings from some of the proposed spending cuts with tax cuts, leaving critics claiming his plan is out of balance, rewarding the wealthy while cutting programs for the poor.

While a rebuttal to Ryan's plan, Obama's speech is also a follow-up to the 2012 budget plan he put on the table earlier in the year.

Republicans have simultaneously welcomed Obama's entry into the latest debt debate while ridiculing him for waiting so long to do so.

"This is vintage Obama. He's been standing on the sidelines expecting the rest of us to make the tough decisions," Cantor said.

The new clash, just a week after the president announced he would seek re-election, ensures that the nation's fiscal health will be at the center of the 2012 presidential campaign. For the past two months, Obama has been arguing to protect his core spending priorities, including education and innovation. His turn to deficit reduction reflects the pressures he faces in a divided Congress and with a public increasingly anxious about the nation's debt, now exceeding $14 trillion.

The president is wading into a potential political thicket. Liberals fear he will propose cuts in prized Democratic programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the health care programs for older adults, the disabled and the poor, and in Social Security. Moderates worry that his plan could unravel bipartisan deficit-cutting negotiations. And Republicans already are poised to reject any proposal that includes tax increases.

A group of liberal Democrats on Wednesday described their latest budget plan, one they said was not necessarily meant as a substitute for the president's. The plan would make no cuts to entitlement programs, but would call for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and rolling back the Bush tax cuts.

For the White House, the speech at George Washington University comes as Obama pushes Congress to raise the limit on the national debt, which will permit the government to borrow more and thus meet its financial obligations. The country will reach its debt limit of $14.3 trillion by May 16. The Treasury Department has warned that failure to raise it by midsummer would drive up the cost of borrowing and destroy the economic recovery.

Obama's speech comes just before Congress votes on a $38 billion package of spending cuts that averted a government shutdown last week. Despite widespread antipathy toward the deal in both parties, House Republicans and the White House predicted the plan, which covers spending for the next six months, would pass.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Raise ‘Em! Obama’s Grand Plan Includes Increasing Taxes

Video: Eat the Rich

Good Plan!! Republican Paul Ryan’s Budget Proposal Is Brave, Radical, and Smart 

Text of Obama’s “Budget/Economy” Speech

Ryan Will Respond to Obama Entitlement Reform Speech

Rep. Paul Ryan: Democrats WILL Demagogue Republicans Budget Plan

Video:  Rep. Paul Ryan: Democrats WILL Demagogue Republicans Budget Plan

Republican Budget Plan to Eliminate National Debt: Ryan (CNBC)

CNBC ^ | April 5,2011 | Jeff Cox  -  Tuesday, April 05, 2011 8:51:12 AM · by Hojczyk · 28 replies

The Republican budget proposal will eliminate the national debt while still preserving costly entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, Rep. Paul Ryan told CNBC. Speaking just hours before the spending plan gets its formal introduction before Congress, Ryan, head of the House Budget Committee, said the debt will peak at 74.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2014 and then drop from there. "We've got to show the country that we can get this situation under control and grow the economy, and that's what we're doing," he said. "So whether (Democratic Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid is willing to...

WATCH Paul Ryan Explains $6.2 Trillion Budget Cuts to Glenn as Gov’t Shutdown Looms GOVERNMENT

"We owe this to our country."

It’s a bold plan to slash government spending. But so far, it’s falling on deaf ears.

Republicans in the House today unveiled a new plan to cut $6.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next 10 years. Spearheaded by House Budge Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the proposal is meant to provide a framework for government spending and fiscal responsibility.

On radio today, Ryan talked with Glenn Beck about what’s exactly in the proposal, and explained why it’s important to pass it.

“We’re talking about shrinking the Federal workforce by 10% over the next three years through attrition, pay freezes in the Federal workforce,” he explained to Beck. “We’re talking about cutting discretionary spending on government agencies below 2008 levels. We’re talking about entitlement reform, block granting Medicaid to the states, and doing welfare reform 2.0 which is food stamps, housing programs.”  Read More »

GOP introduces one-week stopgap with $12B in spending cuts

The Hill ^ | 4/5/11 | Molly K. Hooper and Russell Berman  -  Tuesday, April 05, 2011 8:37:09 AM · by The Big Boo · 16 replies

Republicans on Monday night introduced a measure to fund the military through September and government operations for one more week. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his conference about the legislation — which contains $12 billion in spending cuts — during a Monday night meeting, his office said. The move is intended to prevent a government shutdown that would start after Friday unless Congress approves another measure to fund the government.

White House Orders Agencies To Prep For Government Shutdown

TPM ^ | April 5, 2011, 8:43AM | Brian Beutler |  -  Tuesday, April 05, 2011 9:34:49 AM · by 11th_VA · 25 replies

It's not just the House of Representatives. In another sign that neither side in the spending cut fight is confident that a government shutdown can be avoided, the White House has ordered federal agencies to prep for a government shutdown. Ed O'Keefe at the Washington Post obtained the memo from a federal official, and confirmed its authenticity with the Office of Management and Budget. "[G]iven the realities of the calendar, good management requires that we continue contingency planning for an orderly shutdown should the negotiations not be completed by" April 8, the memo reads. More guidance should be forthcoming today....

Meet The 171 Banks For Which The Margin Of Failure Is One Thousand Dollars: At this point the majority of the population is transfixed by the biggest borrowers from the discount window. Yes, we know by now that the bulk of these were foreign banks, primarily Dexia and Depfa, but that is simply because only Bank Holding Companies, or depository institutions (and yes, last we checked Goldman deposit branches are still sorely missing), are allowed discount window access. more

Two separate threads…

IMF Chief: 'Black Swans' Still Haunt Global Finance(many are swimming around)

IMF economists see dire future for US taxpayers -  AFP ^ | 04/04/2011

Americans will need to pay much heavier taxes and accept less from public healthcare to put state finances on a sustainable track, according to an IMF study published Monday.

"The United States is facing an untenable fiscal situation due to the combination of high fiscal deficits, an aging population and rapid growth in government-provided healthcare benefits," three International Monetary Fund economists said in a report.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

h/t to Jean Stoner

DOH! Extreme Leftist Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Reveals Democrat Strategy For Budget Bill & Rubio (R_FL) on Not Raising Debt Ceiling

Posted by Jared Law on March 29, 2011 at 10:01pm in Elections, Issues, News, & Politics

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This is rich, especially coming from such an extreme, radical leftist like Chuck Schumer. Talk about the soot-encrusted pot calling the gleaming, polished-stainless steel kettle (with a solid copper bottom) black!

The fact of the matter is that the Democrats in 'leadership' positions in the U.S. Senate are hardcore, radical leftists. Many who call themselves Communists are just as far left, as Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Frank Lautenberg, and other 'Progressives' in the Democrat party.

It's nice to see what we all know is happening, exposed to the light of day. Those dirty, radical leftists can't hide their scheming to combine against the liberty of the American People forever; thankfully, we have examples to show potential recruits to our cause. Cold, hard evidence which cannot be explained away by the honest and honorable.
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On a Senate Call, a Glimpse of Marching Orders

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER | March 29, 2011, 12:30 PM 4:58 p.m. | Updated: Um, senators, ever heard of the mute button?

Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, apparently unaware that many of the reporters were already on the line, began to instruct his fellow senators on how to talk to reporters about the contentious budget process.

After thanking his colleagues — Barbara Boxer of California, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — for doing the budget bidding for the Senate Democrats, who are facing off against the House Republicans over how to cut spending for the rest of the fiscal year, Mr. Schumer told them to portray John A. Boehner of Ohio, the speaker of the House, as painted into a box by the Tea Party, and to decry the spending cuts that he wants as extreme. “I always use the word extreme,” Mr. Schumer said. “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”

A minute or two into the talking-points tutorial, though, someone apparently figured out that reporters were listening, and silence fell.

Then the conference call began in earnest, with the Democrats right on message.

“We are urging Mr. Boehner to abandon the extreme right wing,” said Ms. Boxer, urging the House to compromise on the scale of spending cuts and to drop proposed amendments that would deny federal financing for Planned Parenthood and for government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

Mr. Carper continued with the theme, referring to some House Republicans’ “right-wing extremist friends.” Mr. Cardin decried Mr. Boehner’s giving into “extremes of his party.” Mr. Blumenthal closed by speaking of the “relatively small extreme group of ideologues” who are “an anchor” dragging down the budget negotiation process.
How news is made . . .

Update: Later in the day, Mr. Schumer’s spokesman, Brian Fallon, issued this statement about the senator’s remarks: “There’s nothing wrong with reporters overhearing him calling the House Republicans’ [position] extreme, because that’s what it is. He had just given a speech on the Senate floor saying the same thing. The sooner Speaker Boehner abandons the Tea Party’s extreme demands, the sooner there can be a bipartisan deal on the budget.”

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CAUGHT: REPORTERS OVERHEAR DEM’S SECRET BUDGET STRATEGY — ‘ALWAYS U...

Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:21pm by Jonathon M. Seidl
“Um, Senators, ever heard of the mute button?”
That’s how the New York Times — yes the New York Times — begins its story on how Democratic Senators were caught Tuesday morning discussing secret marching orders before a conference call. Apparently, the senators didn’t realize that several of the reporters were already logged into the call and began discussing just how they wanted to verbally paint the GOP, House Speaker John Boehner, and the Tea Party.

The instructions came from the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, New York’s Charles Schumer. The Times explains his instructions:

After thanking his colleagues — Barbara Boxer of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Tom Carper of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — for doing the budget bidding for the Senate Democrats, who are facing off against the House Republicans over how spending for the rest of the fiscal year, Mr. Schumer told them to portray John Boehner of Ohio, the Speaker of the House, as painted into a box by the Tea Party, and to decry the spending cuts that he wants as extreme. “I always use the word extreme,” Mr. Schumer said, “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.” [Emphasis added]

Eventually, it seems someone did find that mute button. But Schumer‘s instructions didn’t fall on deaf ears. As soon as the call officially started the senators accomplished their mission:

“We are urging Mr. Boehner to abandon the extreme right wing,” said Ms. Boxer, urging the House to compromise on the scale of spending cuts and to drop proposed amendments that would deny federal financing for Planned Parenthood and for government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

Mr. Carper continued with the theme, referring to some House Republicans’ “right-wing extremist friends.” Mr. Cardin decried Mr. Boehner giving into “extremes of his party.” Mr. Blumenthal closed by speaking of the “relatively small extreme group of ideologues” who are “an anchor” dragging down the budget negotiation process. [Emphasis added]

Sure, this isn‘t we’re-involved-in-a-third-war shocking — securing messaging is a fact of political life. But it is, if nothing else, worth a chuckle. Especially considering the Democrats — possibly oblivious to the gaffe — said exactly what they said they were going to say.

That, folks, is how the political sausage is made.

Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit

Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start is now

By MARCO RUBIO

Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human history. But America's exceptionalism was not preordained. Every generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.

Our generation's greatest challenge is an economy that isn't growing, alongside a national debt that is. If we fail to confront this, our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a country worse off than the one their parents were given.

Current federal policies make it harder for job creators to start and grow businesses. Taxes on individuals are complicated and set to rise in less than two years. Corporate taxes will soon be the highest in the industrialized world. Federal agencies torment job creators with an endless string of rules and regulations.

On top of all this, we have an unsustainable national debt. Leaders of both parties have grown our government for decades by spending money we didn't have. To pay for it, they borrowed $4 billion a day, leaving us with today's $14 trillion debt. Half of that debt is held by foreign investors, mostly China. And there is no plan to stop. In fact, President Obama's latest budget request spends more than $46 trillion over the next decade. Under this plan, public debt will equal 87% of our economy in less than 10 years. This will scare away job creators and lead to higher taxes, higher interest rates and greater inflation.

Betting on America used to be a sure thing, but job creators see the warning signs that our leaders ignore. Even the world's largest bond fund, PIMCO, recently dumped its holdings of U.S. debt.

We're therefore at a defining moment in American history. In a few weeks, we will once again reach our legal limit for borrowing, the so-called debt ceiling. The president and others want to raise this limit. They say it is the mature, responsible thing to do.

In fact, it's nothing more than putting off the tough decisions until after the next election. We cannot afford to continue waiting. This may be our last chance to force Washington to tackle the central economic issue of our time.

"Raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." So said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As America's debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit, we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.

I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

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There is still time to accomplish all this. Rep. Dave Camp has already introduced proposals to lower and simplify our tax rates, close loopholes, and make permanent low rates on capital gains and dividends. Even Mr. Obama has endorsed the idea of lowering our corporate tax rate. Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, has a bill that would require an up-or-down vote on "major" regulations, those that cost the economy $100 million or more. And the House has already passed a spending plan this year that lowered discretionary spending by $862 billion over 10 years.

Such reductions are important, but nondefense discretionary spending is a mere 19% of the budget. Focusing on this alone would lead to draconian cuts to essential and legitimate programs. To get our debt under control, we must reform and save our entitlement programs.

No changes should be made to Medicare and Social Security for people who are currently in the system, like my mother. But people decades away from retirement, like me, must accept that reforms are necessary if we want Social Security and Medicare to exist at all by the time we are eligible for them.

Finally, instead of simply raising the debt limit, we should reassure job creators by setting a firm statutory cap on our public debt-to-GDP ratio. A comprehensive plan would wind down our debt to sustainable levels of approximately 60% within a decade and no more than half of the economy shortly thereafter. If Congress fails to meet these debt targets, automatic across-the-board spending reductions should be triggered to close the gap. These public debt caps could go in tandem with a Constitutional balanced budget amendment.

Some say we will go into default if we don't increase the debt limit. But if we simply raise it once again, without a real plan to bring spending under control and get our economy growing, America faces the very real danger of a catastrophic economic crisis.

I know that by writing this, I am inviting political attack. When I proposed reforms to Social Security during my campaign, my opponent spent millions on attack ads designed to frighten seniors. But demagoguery is the last refuge of the spineless politician willing to do anything to win the next election.

Whether they admit it or not, everyone in Washington knows how to solve these problems. What is missing is the political will to do it. I ran for the U.S. Senate because I want my children to inherit what I inherited: the greatest nation in human history. It's not too late. The 21st century can also be the American Century. Our people are ready. Now it's time for their leaders to join them.

Mr. Rubio, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Florida.

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